Waterloo Region can not relocate homeless people in Kitchener encampment, court rules
>Ontario’s Superior Court of Justice says it’s unconstitutional to remove homeless individuals who are camped at the corner of Weber and Victoria Streets in Kitchener.
>The ruling, released Wednesday, says the people have no where else they can legally live.
>Moving people away with nowhere else to go violates the charter rights of homeless people, Justice Michael Gibson wrote in his 88-page decision
>The Region of Waterloo owns the land and wants to clear the site so that there’s a place to store construction vehicles when the new central transit hub starts being built.
>The Region was not prepared to provide another site for unhoused people.
>The decision is precedent-setting, says Ashley Schuitema, executive director of Waterloo Region Community Legal Services, which represented the homeless individuals.
>The agency “is deeply proud of this result for our vulnerable clients and people experiencing homelessness in the Region.”
>“We hope that the Region will genuinely commit to a human rights based approach going forward.”
>More to come.
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